Ash Wednesday is an important day in the liturgical calender. Palm ctosses which marked the previous Holy Week are burned, preparing the way for the next, but the symbolism goes deeper. "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes". So much for the vanities of this material world . We're all going to end up in smoke. Which is why Easter matters: it offers hope and some form of meaning. In medieval tradition, fasts were broken by feasting, drinking and excess. "Eat, drink and be merry while you can" Because good times may not come again. So excess and wild abadon are haunted. When you wake with a hangover, you know about Hell. Perfect material for Heinrich Heine.

Dieser Liebe toller Fasching, Dieser Taumel unsrer Herzen,

Geht zu Ende, und ernüchtert Gähnen wir einander an!

Ausgetrunken ist der Kelch, Der mit Sinnenrausch gefüllt war,

Schäumend, lodernd, bis am Rande; Ausgetrunken ist der Kelch.

Es verstummen auch die Geigen, Die zum Tanze mächtig spielten,

Zu dem Tanz der Leidenschaft; Auch die Geigen, sie verstummen.

Es erlöschen auch die Lampen, Die das wilde Licht ergossen

Auf den bunten Mummenschanz; Auch die Lampen, sie erlöschen.

Morgen kommt der Aschermittwoch, Und ich zeichne deine Stirne

Mit dem Aschenkreuz und spreche: Weib bedenke, daß du Staub bist.

(This lovely Fasching, this wild frenzy of our hearts. It's ending. Sobering up, we yawn at one another. The cup's drained empty, which once intoxicated - foaming, flaming, overflowing the brim. The violins are silent that once led the merry dance. (reference to the Devil) The amps are out, too, which gave light in the darkness for merry Mummenshanz (masked and costumed clown figures) . Tomorrow it is Ash Wednesday and I'll mark your forehead with a cross of ash. And whisper : Woman, think on it : You, too, are dust)

As far as I know this poem has only ever been set as a song one, by Wilhelm Killmayer, mentor of Wolfgang Rihm, part of Killmayer's eclectic and highly original traverse through Heine. The piano introduction pounds, throbbing like a violent headache. The vocal lines rise and break off suddenly into silence. The piano comments only in brief staccato flashes. A passage suggests a violin, playing in memory., and the vocal line is circular, like in a dance The pace slows down, as f unwinding voice and piano alternating. The last strophe is striking. Like liturgical chant, it's dignified but plaintive, like an echo from the medieval past. Killmayer substitutes the word "Menschen" for "Weibe". The last line is chant. Two phrases: : "Mensch' bedenke"....."dass du Staub bist!" Thye the piano tolls single chords, like a funeral bell. Get the CD here (Prégardien, Mauser) and the score from Schott.